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Friday, August 01, 2008

How to: Using the New Vista Features

How to make window borders slimmer.
The window borders in Vista are pretty and transparent (if you have Aero Glass enabled) but they're also very wide. Want to make them skinnier? You can - and without installing extra software or editing the registry or doing anything scary. Here's how:
Right click an empty spot on the desktop
Select Personalize
Click Window Color and Appearance: Fine tune the color and style of your windows
If Aero is enabled, click Open Classic Appearance Properties for More Color Options at the bottom of the window
Click the Advanced button
In the dropdown box labeled "Item," select Border Padding
Change the default setting (4) to a smaller number (for example, 1 or 2). You could also make the borders even wider, if you like, by changing the setting to a larger number.
Click OK to close each dialog box.

posted by Dave at 8/01/2008 09:29:00 PM

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

How to make Vista display keyboard shortcuts in menus

Want to learn to use keyboard shortcuts more, but not sure what some of them are?
You can set Vista to show the shortcuts next to the corresponding menu items. Here's how:

Click Start | Control Panel

Click Ease of Access and then Ease of Access Center (or in Classic View, just click Ease of Access Center)
Ignore the annoying text-to-voice; it will go away after reading the first section to you.
Click "Make the keyboard easier to use"
Under the section titled "Make it easier to use keyboard shortcuts,"
put a check mark in the box labeled "Underline keyboard shortcuts and access keys

Click Save

posted by Dave at 7/29/2008 04:16:00 PM

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